Yhwh, the God of Edom

[whoppers]

Originally Posted by hd4me

One could read Exodus 6:3 and conclude that the ancient patriarchs were unaware of God's name thereby contradicting what other verses particularly in Genesis indicate. However one could also understand from those scriptures in Genesis that "to know" God means more than just knowing his personal name and that would resolve the seeming contradiction that Exodus 6:3 poses.


....So Exodus 6:3 could well contradict what other scriptures state but I certainly wouldn't be dogmatic about that as it could very well mean that God had not revealed himself fully in the capacity of YHWH to those patriarchs. Yes they received promises and knew his personal name YHWH but they did not experience YHWH as the fulfiller of those promises since that came later. Thus it could be said "but by my name YHWH I was not known to them."

This is certainly a typical apology for understanding the situation, but one that is a bit shaky in that it stretches the plain-sense meaning of the text to reach a conclusion that harmonizes it. While this may serve theological agendas, it does damage to the intention of the author of the text as can be surmised from a plain-sense reading. In order to demonstrate that "know" had further connotations in this instance, one would have to demonstrate that the verb is used in this meaning without a surrounding context to point out this alternative and theological meaning.

God spoke to Moshe, [Moses]
he said to him:

I am YHWH.
I was seen by Avraham [Abraham], by Yitzhak [Isaac], and by Yaakov [Jacob] as God Shaddai [El Shadday],
but (by) my name YHWH I was not known to them.
(Exodus 6:2-3, SB Fox)

If you are familiar with the Documentary Hypothesis (the standard scholarly explanation of the different sources that were later edited into the final version of the Torah, or Pentateuch) then you will understand that this passage comes from P (the Priestly Source) and that his recognition that the name YHWH was not known to the Israelites is consistent throughout P's account up until this point. J (the Yahwist Source) has always used YHWH for the name God since the beginning of his account, which is exactly why he is called the Yahwist Source.

It is not a contradiction according to the separation of the Sources. In the J Account, YHWH was always known to the people by name (Genesis 4:26: "At that time they first called out the name of YHWH") and in the P Account they only knew him as bearing the name YHWH beginning in Exodus 6:3. After that point in the P Account, the name YHWH is used regularly. In the J Account, YHWH has been used regularly since the beginning. It appears to be a contradiction, but in the end is not really one. Of course, one must be familiar with the DH (Documentary Hypothesis). I have found that the vast majority of "contradictions" that many critics of the Bible adduce in their favor, are actually easily explained by the DH. It is these very "contradictions" that helped point scholars, ever since Rabbi Ibn Ezra, Thomas Hobbes and Baruch Spinoza (to name a few important ones from around 500 years ago), in the right direction to begin investigating the problem of Sources and the conclusion that has been the prevailing working model for hundreds of years now.

You might find it helpful in your own ministry, as a matter of fact.

Originally Posted by Richard1965

This is from the Tanakh:

לג**וַיִּטַּע אֶשֶׁל, בִּבְאֵר שָׁבַע; וַיִּקְרָא-שָׁם--בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה, אֵל עוֹלָם. 33

And Abraham planted a tamarisk-tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.

You are correct. I think that is the point Daniel was trying to make - that if one accepts the Biblical Account as one continuous story, then a contradiction appears. If one understand the composition of the Torah, however, the contradiction disappears.

In many places, Abraham calls upon the name of YHWH. In the beginning of the Abraham Cycle, we have him doing so:

He moved on from there to the mountain-country, east of Bet-El, and spread his tent, Bet-El toward the sea and Ai toward the east.
There he built a slaughter-site to YHWH
and called out the name of YHWH.
(Genesis 12:8)

This makes perfect sense, as it comes from the Yahwist Source, where YHWH is used frequently and regularly as the name of the Israelite god. The same is apparent for the passage you list:

Now he planted a tamarisk in Be'er-Sheva
and there he called out the name: YHWH God of the Ages.
(Genesis 21:33)

The above is usually attributed to the Elohistic Source (known primarily for using the non-personal name of God: Elohim), and why it uses YHWH's name as being known by Abraham is still puzzling (but has been suggested by some as an older tradition adopted by the Elohist). It is possible that the name or title YHWH El Olam has a completely separate history to it.